金伯利克拉克公司 (KMB.US) 2025年第四季度业绩电话会
文章语言：
简
繁
EN
Share
Minutes
原文
会议摘要
Kimberly Clark discusses its Powering Care strategy, leading to eighth consecutive quarters of solid performance, with a focus on premium segments, productivity gains, and market share expansion. The company forecasts operating profit growth and margin expansion, aiming for 40% gross margin and 18% operating profit margin by decade's end, along with a pending acquisition of Canva.
会议速览
Kimberly Clark's Powering Care Strategy Fuels Growth Amid Dynamic MarketKimberly Clark's execution of the Powering Care strategy has led to strong financial performance and market share gains, with a focus on innovation, cost discipline, and portfolio optimization for future growth.
Strategies for Growth and Innovation Amidst Economic ChallengesDiscusses the company's approach to maintaining growth in a tough economic environment by focusing on product superiority and innovation across all price tiers, with plans to expand category presence and premium offerings, backed by a robust pipeline of upcoming innovations.
Consumer Value Focus, Innovative Strategies, and Resilient Category GrowthThe dialogue emphasizes maintaining a consumer-centric approach with value propositions, innovation, and marketing strategies to adapt to shifting consumer demands and channel preferences. It highlights efforts to enhance benefits for trade-ups, resulting in volume growth, and predicts a stable global category outlook despite market fluctuations.
Analysis of Price and Mix Trends in North America's MarketDiscussion focuses on the decline in pricing and negative mix trends in North America, with insights on price investments and their impact on market dynamics.
Strategic Adjustments in Promotional Activities and Innovation for Enhanced Category DevelopmentDiscussed rephased promotional activities and innovation strategies for the fourth quarter, emphasizing trial-driven consumer engagement, market response to new product launches, and strategic pack size investments to enhance value proposition, aiming for profitable growth in volume and mix.
US Diaper Category Dynamics Amid Channel Shifts and Brand CompetitionThe dialogue discusses the impact of Proctor's entry into Costco's diaper market, affecting distribution and exclusivity. The speaker emphasizes growth through innovation and brand value, anticipating slight market adjustments but maintaining confidence in long-term category growth. Global market highlights are provided, showcasing consistent share growth in key regions.
Update on Distribution Loss, Shareholder Voting, and Regulatory Approvals for MergersThe dialogue discusses a distribution loss impacting the full year outlook, shareholder support exceeding 90% for a vote, and progress on regulatory filings for mergers, with expectations to close in the second half of the year.
Analysis of Category Growth, Sales Outlook, and Margin ImprovementsThe dialogue discusses the projected category growth, with a focus on North America and the rest of the world, highlighting the impact of recent market dips. It outlines the company's volume momentum and confidence in its innovative offerings. The conversation also covers the pace of achieving future adjusted gross margins, emphasizing the primary drivers and expected progress, independent of external contributions.
Strong Innovation Pipeline Drives Growth and Margin Expansion Plans for 2026A robust pipeline of innovation and activation programs is set to boost volume and mix growth, with plans for margin expansion through productivity gains and stable input costs, aiming for significant progress towards decade-long financial goals.
Reconciling Medium-Term Growth Expectations and Model EvolutionThe dialogue explores the alignment of current medium-term growth expectations with those outlined in the S 4, addressing the evolution of these expectations and the confidence in achieving 2028 targets. It delves into the visibility and assurance regarding future outcomes, emphasizing the acceleration in growth projections for 2028.
Outlook for 2026: Adjusting to Market Changes and Optimizing Growth StrategiesThe dialogue discusses the adjustments made to the 2026 outlook due to softer demand in North America and the loss of diaper distribution in the club channel, impacting EBITDA. Despite these challenges, the focus remains on delivering growth above the global category average, aiming for high-end operating profit growth, and maintaining discipline on cost efficiency. The integration of script companies is highlighted as a generational value creation opportunity, with plans for significant investments to enhance brand and portfolio capabilities, ensuring long-term earnings capacity.
Strategies for Margin Expansion and Brand Investment Funding through Innovation and Global ExecutionDiscusses achieving margin expansion and funding brand investments via strong innovation pipelines and executional plans globally, aiming to grow ahead of categories.
Path to 40% Gross Margins and 18% EBIT Amid Competitive ChallengesThe dialogue discusses the company's strategy and progress toward achieving 40% gross margins and 18% EBIT, addressing concerns over competitive pricing and market challenges. It highlights the role of productivity, innovation, and effective marketing investments in driving margin expansion, while acknowledging the impact of past pricing decisions and channel mix shifts.
International Market Growth & Margin Improvement StrategiesDiscussion highlights the significant opportunities in international markets, focusing on premium segment expansion and productivity gains. Share momentum and volume-led growth are expected, with innovation and cost management driving profitability. Investors are encouraged to connect with the IR team for further queries.
要点回答
Q：What is the purpose of the Kimberly Clark 4 Q 2025 earnings call?
A：The purpose of the Kimberly Clark 4 Q 2025 earnings call is to discuss the company's financial results and to take questions from participants, with the call being conducted in listen-only mode initially.
Q：Who is Chris Jakobi and what role does he play at Kimberly Clark?
A：Chris Jakobi is the head of investor relations at Kimberly Clark.
Q：What are the risks and uncertainties associated with Kimberly Clark's forward-looking statements?
A：Risks and uncertainties associated with Kimberly Clark's forward-looking statements include variability due to external factors, which are discussed in detail in the company's earnings release and SEC filings.
Q：What is Kimberly Clark's strategy for growth?
A：Kimberly Clark's strategy for growth is called 'Powering Care,' which focuses on building on the company's legacy and seeks to achieve strong results despite dynamic external environments.
Q：How is Kimberly Clark's Powering Care strategy performing?
A：The Powering Care strategy is performing well, as it has delivered an eighth consecutive quarter of solid volume plus mix results and marked a second straight year of leading industry productivity.
Q：What are Kimberly Clark's priorities in 2026?
A：In 2026, Kimberly Clark's priorities include building a robust, brand-focused strategy to further differentiate its trusted brands and ensuring healthy levels of investment across the value chain, with a focus on the consumer and value.
Q：What impact does Kimberly Clark expect the acquisition of Kenv to have on its business?
A：The acquisition of Kenv is seen as a powerful next step in Kimberly Clark's transformation, expected to advance the company's trajectory toward higher growth and margins, and to create a global health and wellness leader position.
Q：What is Kimberly Clark's approach to the changing consumer focus on value?
A：Kimberly Clark remains focused on delivering a strong value proposition to consumers and is responding to their demand for different pack sizes and purchase frequencies, especially in international and developing markets, with targeted price adjustments and by ensuring compelling offerings across all tiers.
Q：What factors does Kimberly Clark believe contribute to its volume growth in a challenging consumer environment?
A：Kimberly Clark believes its focus on delivering superior products at competitive costs contributes to its volume growth, and it has worked hard to elevate and expand its categories globally.
Q：Why does Kimberly Clark focus on delivering value to consumers?
A：Kimberly Clark focuses on delivering value to consumers because the consumer focus on value is expected to persist, and the company aims to serve consumers where they need us with a compelling value proposition across all channels.
Q：How is Kimberly Clark managing the changing dynamics in emerging markets?
A：Kimberly Clark is managing the changing dynamics in emerging markets by paying attention to consumer demand for different pack sizes and purchase frequencies, and by ensuring channel participation and having compelling offerings at all price tiers.
Q：What is the growth trend in North America's volume and price mix?
A：In North America, the volume growth was 2.0% in the full year and 4.1% on a two-year basis. The price mix saw a deceleration rather than improvement this quarter after being persistently negative in Ed, with a strong agenda of innovation in the fourth quarter.
Q：How does the company plan to address the challenges with pricing and promotions in North America?
A：The company is dealing with competitive promotional activities in North America, which have caused a delay in planned innovation activation into the fourth quarter. They plan to continue using promotions as a strategy to drive trial, especially for sensorial innovations, and expect market promotional activity to align with their innovation efforts.
Q：What is the consumer behavior related to club mix and how is it affecting pricing?
A：Consumer behavior has shifted towards buying larger pack sizes at lower prices per unit, which is leading to more volume but a slight drag on pricing. The company aims to serve consumers in their preferred shopping channels and has made strategic investments in pack sizes to align with their good, better, best pricing strategy, especially ahead of upcoming innovation.
Q：How is the company anticipating the impact of strategic investments in pack sizes and choices?
A：The company is focusing on sharpening the competitiveness of their value proposition over the long term, maintaining price discipline while growing volume and mix profitably. This strategy includes innovation and category development, and they have a strong lineup of innovations to follow through on.
Q：What are the current dynamics of the US diaper category, particularly with the entry of a major player like Costco?
A：The company is growing in the US diaper category through innovation and brand building, which has worked well for them globally and in North America. They have grown market share in many key markets and continue to focus on providing differentiated brand value propositions. However, they expect to lose some distribution in the North American club channel due to a major player moving away from branded exclusivity. Despite this, they are confident in continuing to grow, which is reflected in their full-year growth expectations.
Q：What is the expected timing for closing the regulatory process and theIFP transaction?
A：The regulatory process is on track and consistent with initial expectations, with a projected close in the back half of the year for the IFP transaction, subject to regulatory approvals. The international filings were completed by early February, suggesting a mid-year closing for the IFP transaction.
Q：How does the company expect the 2% category growth to be distributed between North America and the rest of the world?
A：The company is more precise about the 2% category growth expected, but details regarding the distribution between North America and the rest of the world are not clearly provided in the transcript. The focus is mainly on the overall sales outlook and the expected improvement throughout the year due to volume momentum and new product launches.
Q：What is the company's view on the impact of recent discrete factors on their business and their outlook for category growth?
A：Discrete factors such as weather-related events, port strikes, and purchasing behaviors impacted the business in the previous year, leading to a drop in growth. However, the company believes that the category growth remained resilient, with a weighted average growth around 2%. The company continues to focus on innovation and strengthening value propositions, with a strong product pipeline expected to support new launches and drive growth in 2023.
Q：How is the company planning the quarterly pacing of net sales and organic growth?
A：The company plans for net sales to be roughly even between the first and second halves of the year. In terms of quarterly pacing, they expect organic growth to accelerate in the back half versus the first half of the year. The focus is on ramping up innovation and brand support as the year progresses.
Q：What does the company anticipate regarding gross and operating profit margins in 2026?
A：The company anticipates making strong progress in expanding margins, both gross and operating profit margins, in 2026. They expect cost inflation to be flat, productivity to deliver strong results, and to expand margins in line with achieving the gross margin goal before the end of the decade and the operating profit goal by 2030.
Q：What is the impact of the partial loss of diapers and training pants distribution?
A：The partial loss of diapers and training pants distribution in the North America Club channel will result in a headwind of around 100 basis points of growth, which is reflected in the outlook.
Q：How does the company expect adjusted EPS to perform?
A：The company expects adjusted EPS to be in line with Ed levels on a constant currency basis, reflecting underlying growth consistent with the long-term trend, but with an offset due to the reduction in income from discontinued operations.
Q：What is the company's view on the potential of the combination with Can, and what are the plans regarding investments?
A：The company has not seen anything in the integration management process that would change their view on the potential of the combination with Can. They plan to continue making pretty good investments into the brands and portfolio capabilities of Can, focusing on ensuring both companies have great earnings capacity over the long term.
Q：What factors will influence the company's ability to achieve its financial goals and margin expansion?
A：The company's ability to achieve its financial goals and margin expansion will be influenced by the strong innovation pipeline, executional plans across the globe, and the visibility on achieving those goals as well as funding brand investments.
Q：How does the company view the impact of the post-deal reinvestment and synergy realization on its financials?
A：The company is expecting strong progress toward its financial goals, with visibility into its path to reach 40% gross margin and 20% Aros aspiration by 2030. Although the impact is not linear, the company feels good about its productivity delivery and the innovation in the pipeline that enables driving positive mix and premiumization. The company plans to update on this as it gets closer to deal close.
Q：What is the projected impact of the deal on input costs and margin expansion?
A：The projected impact of the deal on input costs is that they are expected to be neutral year on year for two years, following about $200 million of costs in the previous year. Productivity is expected to be around the script level, contributing to margin expansion. Additionally, strategic price investments made late in the previous quarter will help in offsetting any negative pricing environment and support margin expansion in the upcoming year.
Q：What is the focus of the company's strategy in a category like batteries or diapers?
A：The company is focused on an operating model and culture that drives the notion of the elusive virtuous cycle, which involves innovating across all levels (good, better, best), particularly at the top end, and ensuring investment for impact.
Q：What is the impact of price realization in 2025 and how does it relate to 2024 pricing decisions?
A：Price realization was lower in 2025 due to pricing decisions made in the fourth quarter of 2024, which were weaker than anticipated. The company always factored in end-of-quarter pricing actions into the plan, but the actual results showed a shift and weaker pricing throughout 2025, partly influenced by competitive activities and the shift of programming into Q4.
Q：What explains the sequential pricing shift and the difference in results between 2024 and 2025?
A：The sequential pricing shift and the difference in results between 2024 and 2025 were influenced by competitive activities in the prior quarter, where the company held back some pricing programming which was then shifted into Q4, explaining some of the sequential pricing changes observed.
Q：What is the opportunity with international gross margins and what are the growth drivers?
A：International gross margins represent an opportunity for the company to improve and they are focused on making progress in this area. The growth drivers include meeting consumer demand at every tier, particularly focusing on expanding the premium segment, and leveraging global scale to drive costs down and improve productivity.
Q：What is the importance of meeting consumer demand at every tier and in which geographies is there significant opportunity?
A：Meeting consumer demand at every tier is crucial for growth, with a significant opportunity in the best segment, especially in international geographies where the consumer is developing and GDP growth allows for increased spending. This is a key part of the equation for growing and expanding margins.
Q：What is the strategy for improving international productivity and how is it being executed?
A：The strategy for improving international productivity involves leveraging global scale, as executed through wire execution, to drive costs down in markets like North America and China, and other geographies. This has allowed for cost-effective growth and sequential improvement in markets outside of North China.
Q：What are the examples of international markets experiencing organic growth and share gains?
A：International markets experiencing organic growth and share gains include Brazil diapers with mid single-digit organic growth, South Korea diapers with positive organic growth, Indonesia with positive organic growth, and Australia in personal care and adult care.
Q：What are the expectations for international growth in 2026?
A：In 2026, the company expects to drive positive volume and mix-led growth ahead of the category, targeting weighted growth led by strong innovation and premiumization. This is expected to result in operating profit dollar and margin gains due to strong productivity and overhead management.
Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Follow
